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| illustration courtesy of DANA (Science Museum, London) |
The randomness and arbitrariness of time is nothing compared to that of events within time, making connections that history rarely records, but which may well be more significant than those that it not only does record, but afterwards regards as prima facie evidence for whatever theory of the event it wishes to establish.
So it happened that Charles Babbage was in process of developing his ideas for a programmable computer, and took an evening off, this evening in fact, June 5th 1833, to attend a dinner party, and found himself seated next to an interesting young lady of just eighteen, with whom he discussed all manner of things, but not his work on the development of a programmable computer, because that would have been "shop", and one does not talk "shop" at a dinner party, not even to a young lady as intelligent as this one appeared to be.
Eight years later Babbage reported on progress to a seminar in Turin. In the audience there happened to be a man named Luigi Menabrea, who took detailed notes, wrote them up as a summary, and then published them in France, intrigued and excited by Babbage's work.
Move forward just a few more weeks, and to another dinner party, hosted by Mary Somerville, the woman who would give her name posthumously to the first college for women at Oxford University. Among her guests was one of her recent tutees, Ada Lovelace, the mother of three young children and the very bored wife of an English Earl. Ada had been trained in mathematics by her mother, and so Mary Somerville thought it would interest her to see an article recently published in France - Menabrea's article about Babbage. Ada was intrigued, and undertook to translate it, adding her own notes for an "Analytical Engine". Once completed, she mailed them to Babbage. Their correspondence continued for the remainder of her life, and contributed, on his own admission, profoundly to his work, as did her correspondence with Sir David Brewster, the inventor of the kaleidoscope, with Charles Dickens, the novelist, and with Michael Faraday (see Sept 22), the discoverer, inter alia, of electrolysis, all likewise friendships made by chance.
Or not quite by chance, for Ada Lovelace did have one other advantage, besides youth, beauty and intelligence. She was the daughter - and the only legitimate one at that - of George, Lord Byron, poet and hero of Missolonghi. And yes, that was Ada sitting next to Babbage at that first dinner party in 1833. One cannot help wondering how much more might have been achieved, if he had told Ada about his computer aspirations on that first occasion.
Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary, born today in 1878
John Maynard Keynes, English economist, born today in 1883
Federico Garica Lorca, Spanish poet and playwright, born today in 1898
The "Marshall Plan", the means by which Germany became absolved of its wickedness without any further vengeance or retribution, and thereby enabled to become again the mightiest power in Europe; the means by which America reduced western Europe to a condition of "special relationship"; but formally known as "The Marshall Plan To Rebuild Europe", was unveiled today in 1963.
John Profumo, British war secretary, resigned, today in 1967; and spent the rest of his days in expiation of the sin of Christine Keeler, undertaking work that was much more useful to society anyway, down in the East End, based at Toynbee Hall (a place that definitely merits moving from amber to green: Britain's great socialist experiment, and such names associated with it: Pierre de Coubertin, William Beveridge (whose report could do well to be reviewed and updated now), Samuel Barnett, and especially Henrietta Barnett of school fame, Arnold Toynbee who gave his name to it, and the less directly iconic son of Ramsay McDonald, who was the architect of the original 1930s building, and of others later named for Clement Attlee, who spent time there as a young man, and Profumo House too - his formal parole.
The pre-emptive raids that prevented the Arab invasion of Israel took place tonight, in 1967 - though the consequence of those raids, the "Six Day War", is recorded in history tomorrow, June 6 (al-naksa, the June Setback, in the Arabic - click here). And no coincidence that Prime Minister Begin chose June 6th to launch the 1982 Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, "Milchemet Shalom ha-Galil", the "War of Peace for Galilee"; the first tanks came off the naval transport ships on Nof Achziv, a kilometre from the border, just before 5am, little more than just across the street from my bedroom window.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, shot, today in 1968 - he died in the early hours of June 6th, at1:44 am Pacific Time to be precise (Emilio Estevez's film about it is on June 24)
So it happened that Charles Babbage was in process of developing his ideas for a programmable computer, and took an evening off, this evening in fact, June 5th 1833, to attend a dinner party, and found himself seated next to an interesting young lady of just eighteen, with whom he discussed all manner of things, but not his work on the development of a programmable computer, because that would have been "shop", and one does not talk "shop" at a dinner party, not even to a young lady as intelligent as this one appeared to be.
Eight years later Babbage reported on progress to a seminar in Turin. In the audience there happened to be a man named Luigi Menabrea, who took detailed notes, wrote them up as a summary, and then published them in France, intrigued and excited by Babbage's work.
Move forward just a few more weeks, and to another dinner party, hosted by Mary Somerville, the woman who would give her name posthumously to the first college for women at Oxford University. Among her guests was one of her recent tutees, Ada Lovelace, the mother of three young children and the very bored wife of an English Earl. Ada had been trained in mathematics by her mother, and so Mary Somerville thought it would interest her to see an article recently published in France - Menabrea's article about Babbage. Ada was intrigued, and undertook to translate it, adding her own notes for an "Analytical Engine". Once completed, she mailed them to Babbage. Their correspondence continued for the remainder of her life, and contributed, on his own admission, profoundly to his work, as did her correspondence with Sir David Brewster, the inventor of the kaleidoscope, with Charles Dickens, the novelist, and with Michael Faraday (see Sept 22), the discoverer, inter alia, of electrolysis, all likewise friendships made by chance.
Or not quite by chance, for Ada Lovelace did have one other advantage, besides youth, beauty and intelligence. She was the daughter - and the only legitimate one at that - of George, Lord Byron, poet and hero of Missolonghi. And yes, that was Ada sitting next to Babbage at that first dinner party in 1833. One cannot help wondering how much more might have been achieved, if he had told Ada about his computer aspirations on that first occasion.
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| Toynbee Hall before the Blitz |
Amber pages:
Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary, born today in 1878
John Maynard Keynes, English economist, born today in 1883
Federico Garica Lorca, Spanish poet and playwright, born today in 1898
The "Marshall Plan", the means by which Germany became absolved of its wickedness without any further vengeance or retribution, and thereby enabled to become again the mightiest power in Europe; the means by which America reduced western Europe to a condition of "special relationship"; but formally known as "The Marshall Plan To Rebuild Europe", was unveiled today in 1963.
John Profumo, British war secretary, resigned, today in 1967; and spent the rest of his days in expiation of the sin of Christine Keeler, undertaking work that was much more useful to society anyway, down in the East End, based at Toynbee Hall (a place that definitely merits moving from amber to green: Britain's great socialist experiment, and such names associated with it: Pierre de Coubertin, William Beveridge (whose report could do well to be reviewed and updated now), Samuel Barnett, and especially Henrietta Barnett of school fame, Arnold Toynbee who gave his name to it, and the less directly iconic son of Ramsay McDonald, who was the architect of the original 1930s building, and of others later named for Clement Attlee, who spent time there as a young man, and Profumo House too - his formal parole.
The pre-emptive raids that prevented the Arab invasion of Israel took place tonight, in 1967 - though the consequence of those raids, the "Six Day War", is recorded in history tomorrow, June 6 (al-naksa, the June Setback, in the Arabic - click here). And no coincidence that Prime Minister Begin chose June 6th to launch the 1982 Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, "Milchemet Shalom ha-Galil", the "War of Peace for Galilee"; the first tanks came off the naval transport ships on Nof Achziv, a kilometre from the border, just before 5am, little more than just across the street from my bedroom window.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy, shot, today in 1968 - he died in the early hours of June 6th, at1:44 am Pacific Time to be precise (Emilio Estevez's film about it is on June 24)
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